By Kim Atienza
DINOSAURS can be traced to exist 238 million years ago. The word dinosaur came from the Greek word Deinos meaning terrible and Saurus meaning lizard.
The Mind Museum in Bonifacio Global City recently allowed visitors a Jurassic experience. There we, from Matanglawin TV, met the largest meat-eating dinosaur, the Spinosaurus.
Dinosaurs and Chicken: A Family Affair
Dinosaurs may have been extinct in our time but is it possible that they are related to chickens?
The Archaeopteryx in Germany started the theory that birds came from dinosaurs. Apparently, there are a number of dinosaurs which possess the same features as birds.
One of the few that enhances this theory is the Oviraptor or Egg Snatcher. It has the same beak and comb as a bird, but is made up of bones instead.
It is also said that they hatch their eggs like chickens do. These Egg Snatchers have no teeth but can eat giant clams.
The Velociraptor, on the other hand, has feathers and wings. They have sharp claws, too.
In reality, these feathered dinosaurs can be compared to the size of a turkey.
In the 1860s, researchers found out that the T. Rex is the missing link to this claim and further concluded that T. Rex and chickens are related.
Dinosaurs in the Philippines
The Jurassic era was ruled by dinosaurs in a supercontinent called Pangea. Eventually over time, this supercontinent was separated into seven continents.
The first dinosaurs evolved in South America. Africa had the meat-eating dinosaurs Spinosaurus which fed on land animals and fishes.
On the other hand, Europe had smaller dinosaurs and Asia had dinosaurs with feathers that protected them from the cold weather and helped them in their camouflage techniques.
However, no dinosaurs were traced in the Philippines as these animals existed before the Philippine islands were even formed.
In 1987, a group of researchers from the University of the Philippines discovered a fossil of a Stegodon in Antipolo, Rizal. Stegodons, however, are woolly mammoths and not dinosaurs.
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MORE USEFUL TIPS FROM THE BOOK, “LIVING WITH FOLK WISDOM,” BY ABERCIO V. ROTOR, Ph.D.): Glutinous rice with chicken blood is a rare treat these days. The practice of gathering the blood while dressing the chicken is now rare, possibly done only in far away provinces. But, in the good old days, chicken blood is mixed with glutinous rice (malagkit). This is done by preparing one cup of rice, washing it quickly in a shallow plate, and draining the blood directly to the rice, which solidifies the blood in a minute or two. Dislodge it from the plate and cook it with the rest of the chicken.
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Send your questions on anything and everything to Kuya Kim through my Twitter account @kuyakim_atienza using #AlaminKayKuyaKim.
